The Section of Hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) Surgery is dedicated to pioneering new treatments for pancreas, liver, sarcoma, and peritoneal cancer through basic and clinical research.
The Section of Hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) Surgery is dedicated to pioneering new treatments for pancreas, liver, sarcoma, and peritoneal cancer through basic and clinical research.
Our Surgical Oncology Research Group meets regularly to discuss the latest areas of investigation in the field, and we present frequently at national meetings.
Through ongoing research and clinical trials, we aim to improve outcomes. As part of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, we belong to an alliance of the country’s top cancer centers committed to improving patient care, research, and education.
Recent research projects include:
- Pancreatic cancer registry: Optimizing efficacy of multimodality therapies for pancreatic cancer
- Immune system’s response in pancreatic cancer
- Role of surgery in metastatic pancreatic cancer
- Enhanced recovery with minimally invasive surgery after pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple)
- Liver registry
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Discovery of novel therapeutic strategies for cholangiocarcinoma: We apply high throughput, unbiased techniques to study functional genomics and molecular signaling pathways in cholangiocarcinoma, so as to identify tumor-specific dependencies, novel therapeutic agents, and/or targetable pathways, ultimately translating into clinical trials and improved patient outcomes.
Research Labs
Pancreatic Cancer Research Laboratory
Dr. Allen’s laboratory focuses on translational research in the realm of pancreatic disease and cancer. The main focus of the laboratory is in studying a cystic precursor lesion of pancreatic adenocarcinoma called Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm (IPMN).
Dr. Nussbaum’s research focuses on expanding our fundamental understanding of distant metastasis in pancreatic cancer, and then developing novel strategies to prevent disease progression in order to improve cure rates for this aggressive malignancy. This requires devising model systems of the earliest events in pancreatic cancer cell dissemination, implementing cutting edge approaches to investigate how these cells survive and proliferate in a foreign microenvironment, and ultimately translating these findings into early phase clinical trials.
Lidsky Research Laboratory
Dr. Lidsky is the Director of HPB Research at Duke University. He leads the Surgical Oncology Research Group, which was initiated by Dr. Blazer. This group, consisting of surgical oncology faculty, surgery trainees, and medical students, meets monthly to review ongoing research projects that utilize local and national datasets to study cancers of the liver, biliary tree, and pancreas, gastric cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, peritoneal malignancies, and melanoma, in additional to pre-malignant conditions such as intrapapillary mucinous neoplasms.
Klemen Research Laboratory
The Klemen Laboratory is working to develop personalized cellular immunotherapies for patients with solid tumors, with a particular focus on pancreatic and colorectal cancers. Our research aims to identify or engineer tumor-specific T cells that can be translated into clinically deployable cell-therapy platforms. A central focus of the laboratory is the study of neoantigen-specific peripheral blood lymphocytes, which are ultra-rare tumor-reactive T cells that can be selectively isolated from the blood and expanded ex vivo while preserving favorable stem-like and costimulation-competent phenotypes. By integrating neoantigen discovery, single-cell immune profiling, and early-phase clinical translation, the lab seeks to create broadly applicable yet highly personalized cell therapies that can be delivered earlier in the cancer disease course across a wide range of solid tumors.
Clinical Trials
Our faculty are active in clinical trials to improve HPB treatments. These include:
- Negative Pressure Wound Therapy in Reducing Postoperative Surgical Site Infections in Patients Undergoing Surgery of the Colon, Rectum, Liver, Pancreas, or Gallbladder
- Proton or Photon RT for Retroperitoneal Sarcomas
- Percutaneous Hepatic Perfusion vs Best Alternative Care in Patients With Hepatic-dominant Ocular Melanoma (FOCUS)
- The Prevention of Progression to Pancreatic Cancer Trial (The 3P-C Trial)
- Trial using hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy for locally advanced intrahepatic cholangocarcinoma (one of five participating sites in the world)
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Identification of cyst fluid biomarkers to determine high risk IPMN
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PLANET Trial: Precision Medicine in Liver Cancer across an Asia-Pacific Network: A Multi-National Cohort Study on the Impact of Intra-Tumoural Heterogeneity and Immune Micro-Environment on the Clinical Trajectory of Resected Hepatocellular Carcinoma — This study aims to investigate the genomic heterogeneity and immunological profile of surgically resected HCC, and relate them to the subsequent clinical trajectory.
Publications
Dr. Allen's Recent Publications
Dr. Blazer's Recent Publications
Dr. Herbert's Recent Publications
Dr. Lidsky's Recent Publications
Dr. Nussbaum's Recent Publications
Dr. Pappas's Recent Publications
Dr. Shah's Recent Publications
Dr. Zani's Recent Publications